Cosmos clinch fall crown with second-half surge

The Scorpions' Borja Rubiato (13) duels with the Cosmos' Carlos Mendes during Saturday's game at Toyota Field. The Cosmos will face Atlanta on Nov. 9 for the NASL title.

The Scorpions' Borja Rubiato (13) duels with the Cosmos' Carlos Mendes during Saturday's game at Toyota Field. The Cosmos will face Atlanta on Nov. 9 for the NASL title.

Photo: Robin Jerstad / For The Express-News

Photo: Robin Jerstad / For The Express-News

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The Scorpions' Borja Rubiato (13) duels with the Cosmos' Carlos Mendes during Saturday's game at Toyota Field. The Cosmos will face Atlanta on Nov. 9 for the NASL title.

The Scorpions' Borja Rubiato (13) duels with the Cosmos' Carlos Mendes during Saturday's game at Toyota Field. The Cosmos will face Atlanta on Nov. 9 for the NASL title.

Photo: Robin Jerstad / For The Express-News

Cosmos clinch fall crown with second-half surge

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His team long eliminated from contention for the fall NASL crown, Scorpions interim manager Alen Marcina billed Saturday's match against first-place New York as a championship match.

His team could not earn the last remaining berth to the Soccer Bowl, but they could at least delay the Cosmos from clinching theirs.

Like so many other aspects of their disappointing second season, that goal went unrealized as the Cosmos, reborn after a decades-long hiatus to participate in the second leg of the NASL's split campaign, stormed back for a 2-1 victory at Toyota Field.

“We wanted to put on a show for our fans, and I'm pretty sure our fans did get a show tonight,” Marcina said. “Unfortunately it didn't go our way.”

Marcos Senna and Stefan Dimitrov scored within two minutes of each other early in the second half, and the Cosmos survived with 10 men after substitute Dane Murphy was shown a straight red card in the 74th minute.

The card kicked off a frenzied stretch in which manager Giovanni Savarese was also sent off, and two other Cosmos players were shown yellow. The match featured nine cards in all, with New York earning six.

The Cosmos still were clearly the better team, hitting the post twice and outshooting the Scorpions 11-6. They will face Atlanta on Nov. 9 in Georgia for the NASL title.

The Scorpions got off to a glorious start, with Tomasz Zahorski finishing neatly off Dennis Chin's through ball in the third minute.

New York commenced to pounding away at the Scorpions, capitalizing on sloppy defending to break through in the opening minutes of the second half.

There was at least one triumph for the home team, and a huge one at that.

Owner Gordon Hartman announced that the Scorpions cleared a profit of $662,599 in their second season, all of which will be donated to special-needs charities. The total includes $20,000 generated by a summer exhibition match to help Oklahoma City tornado victims, and $42,974 raised for breast cancer awareness at a recent charity auction.